I can’t stop eating the crunchy, slowly cooling clusters once they are done baking; and

Whatever I don’t eat only lasts a day or two once Fritz gets his hands on it.

As you can see, there may or may not be a willpower (or lack thereof) issue going on here.

A classmate of Fritz’s did us a huge favor last weekend by letting us borrow his truck, so I had promised treats in the form of cake or cookies. He requested something healthier, so I decided there’s no better treat than granola, chock full of the good stuff.

This is a basic granola recipe that you can change however you want by adding different mix-ins after you finish baking and cooling the clusters.

And it turns out that when you make granola with a purpose, you can set aside a big jar! Makes me think that I should tell myself that each batch has to last a week, and give making it for us another try.

To make: preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the wet ingredients to a boil, the reduce heat to low and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry (it’ll be thick and difficult to stir at first!) and make sure to mix everything thoroughly.

Spread onto a baking sheet covered with a nonstick mat or parchment paper, and bake for 30-40 minutes, stirring every fifteen minutes to make sure it all bakes evenly.

Remove to cool–it will harden as it cools, not during baking. It’s okay that the granola is still soft right when you take it out of the oven! It’ll get crispy as it cools.

Once it cools, break it into pieces if it hasn’t broken up yet, and mix in the raisins. Store in a large airtight jar or plastic container for up to a few weeks…but it won’t last that long.

An important thing to note: this granola does not taste like peanut butter! You wouldn’t know it was in there unless I told you–it just adds a nice saltiness to everything.

Also, make sure that all the nuts you use are raw, otherwise they’ll probably burn as you bake them.

I loved how dark and crunchy everything got–it tasted amazing mixed in yogurt with banana (my breakfast) or in a big bowl with milk (Fritz’s dinner part 1). Perfectly sweet with a hint of salty and maximum crunch.

Even Henry likes it.

We’ve finished up with the majority of our side of things on the apartment: I made curtains, we hung shelves, and Fritz put some final touches on the place. Now the landlord has to do his side of things: mainly put a ceiling on our laundry room. I’ve seen Henry disappear into the ceiling and it makes me very nervous!

When he’s not sneaking around our heads M:I-V style, or swiping granola, he’s sitting on the windowsill having the time of his life: